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First off, let me premise this by saying that there are some instances where this request is not out of line. And that each project is unique. However, I think it is important that we, as designers educate our clients about the methods and reasoning we put into a design. Doing it to do it is not enough. You have to be able to effectively answer the question “why?” You need to know what objective it serves.
What do you do when the client simply asks, “Can you please make the logo bigger, it doesn’t seem prominent enough to me?”
This normally sends me into some kind of designer-induced melt-down. Papers get thrown, notebooks burned. It really does blow me away. It seems such an unintelligent request. When you think about the whole experience of going to a website, the logo actually plays a much more secondary role than most people realize. Think about it from this perspective: The use experience of navigation to a website, starts way before the design ever even comes in to play. The very act of navigating to a given website the name of the business is reinforced. You either type the exact name in the URL or you search through google or some other engine for the name and click on it. So bam, either scenario, whether someone navigations to the site organically or intentionally you reinforce the brand through the NAME and URL. The crazy thing about it is that the logo isn’t even in the picture yet at this point.
So automatically people who come to the site will already have this business at the forefront of their mind. So now, you actually get to the physical site and its design. This is where the prominence of the brand does potentially come in to play. Is the brand executed well in the design? Is it clear thematically? Are there ways to reinforce the brand outside of the logo? Obviously the logo needs to be there, but if the brand is not executed well, automatically making it bigger is not always the answer. In fact, just because it is often the “easiest” answer (and most uncreative in my opinion) does not make it the right solution. There are other options out there. More intelligent and thought through options, ones with reasoning higher than a fifth grader.
Having the logo take the top, left position (this boils down to hierarchy)— which culturally, when visually consuming something (like a book) is normally the most prominent position to be in, our eyes naturally start at the top left— automatically gives it dominance over the rest of the layout. Simply making it bigger does not reinforce its prominence, or its importance. In fact, it can often do the exact opposite. Having negative space around an item is another option, and is one of the most effective ways to draw someones attention to it. Also, not giving it too much weight in a design (which can cause an unpleasant viewing experience) is just as important. Users will stay on a site longer and utilize a site more that is pleasant and appealing to their eyes not disproportioned and out of balance.
Conclusion
When soliciting feedback you have to be able to provide a framework for them to work in. Simply leaving an open blanket “what do you think?” is not a good option. I have done this time and time again (and I still do sometimes) and it has cost me some very strong concepts and solutions. As designers we must learn how to not only design with excellence but also provide strong design solutions when our clients are not happy. The roles are simple: they point out the issues, we come up with the solutions. And everyone wins in the end.
